Could You Love Me? || Ms Venable

IV.

.･:*:･･:*:･.
"If it be now, 'tis not to come: if it be not to come, it will be now: if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all."

(Hamlet, act 5 scene 2)
.･:*:･･:*:･.

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It had been a week since the incident in the library. Ms Venable hadn't given me a second glance since. Meal times were the only instances where she'd talk to me, but just to demand that I eat without complaints whenever I hesitated.

My heart felt lonely, even more than before. For some reason, that small period of time I'd spent with Ms Venable seemed to have made up for years of loneliness, but it had gone as quick as it had come.

That was until the eighth day of silence, when I sat in the library, in my usual spot and my usual time, nine until seven.

Engrossed in my book, I barely noticed the silhouette that had appeared in my vision.

"May I join you Ms Aldean?" Looking up suddenly, there was Ms Venable. She was standing tall, wearing a black dress, with long lacy sleeves, and trademark fingerless gloves.

Why was she asking me if she could sit? It was her outpost!

"Sure" I mumbled. She sat herself gracefully down in the armchair across to me.

"What are you reading today?" Ms Venable asked, resting both hands on her cane in front of her.

"To Kill A Mocking Bird" It was an amazing book, and I could tell Ms Venable thought so too by her satisfied expression.

"I haven't read that book in years, let me see" She said softly, putting a hand out slowly to retrieve it, our hands brushing against each other. I almost dropped the book because of the sensation that shot from my fingers to the rest of my body. It was electric, and by looking at at Ms Venable, I was sure she'd felt it too. But she didn't react to it, so I decided to do the same, but I didn't forget it.

"I'd forgotten how brilliantly written this is"

"You can read it, if you want, I've loads of stacks of other books to work through" I hid the hopefulness in my voice. Even the acknowledgement of her pondering on the thought made me feel warm.

"Do you mean read, in here? With you in the room?" She looked shocked at my proposition. I wondered why. Maybe because she'd never done anything with anyone here apart from torturing people with Ms Mead?

"Erm....yeah, if you want, I've got other things to read" My voice grew quieter by the second, afraid she'd reject me completely and avoid me for two weeks.

"Okay" Ms Venable said simply, crossing her legs and opening the book. So I grabbed the nearest book to me and started to read.

Do you know how hard it is to focus on words when a beautiful woman is sitting opposite you? It's virtually impossible, and I kept catching myself gazing over at Ms Venable. She was truly stunning. Dark eyes and dark reddish hair, pale skin and plump lips. Wait, why am I looking at her lips? Even though her face normally had the same stern look, it wasn't anymore. Instead it was neutral, the kind of look everyone has whilst reading. I noticed that she was biting the inside of her cheek gently, so I guess it was her reading habit. Everyone has a reading habit, as little or as big it may be. Mine was that my hand would always rub the back of my neck subconsciously. I just couldn't tear my eyes away from her.

Suddenly she glanced up, and I felt like a deer caught in headlights. Oh fuck.

"Is there something wrong?" She seemed genuinely concerned, not knowing the real reason I'd been staring at her. I cleared my throat.